Thursday, June 9, 2011

Last week when I told you about recovering my dining room chairs, I mentioned I had enough fabric leftover to add trim to my cafe curtains. When I originally sewed these curtains, I intentionally made them short so I could easily sweep beneath them. (Feeding three little kids 3 meals a day plus a snack results in lots of crumbs.)

As you can see, I made them too short. So, I added some leftover fabric to the bottom as coordinating trim.

I think they look much better.

Now everthing ties in together nicely. The plaid on the chair does match. It's just appears to have pink hues rather than burnt orange like the curtains.

On a completely unrelated topic -- we have blueberries! This was our first year to try growing anything edible. My family eats a lot of fruit and is particularly fond of blueberries. We purchased two blueberry plants from Lowe's and planted them several weeks ago.

Every day or two we check to see which berries have turned blue and are ready for picking. The girls enjoy pulling off the ripe berries, rinsing them off, and eating food that is as fresh as one can get.

Wednesday, June 1, 2011

Years ago when Judd and I purchased our dining room table, we didn't give the white formal fabric cushions a second thought. Five days after our purchase, we hosted Christmas dinner and one of our guests accidentally dropped cranberry sauce on a cushion leaving a stain. Shortly after that, our nephew added a chocolate cake stain to a second chair. Along came our girls and I have tried everything to keep those chairs clean to no avail. I think the workers in the chair cushion factory get a big laugh as they cover dining room chairs with white fabric. Can't you hear their sinister laughs? "Bwaaahaaa a mother of three will purchase this one..."

When I saw Dana Willard's post (author of the incredible blog - Made) Orange Oilcloth Chair Covers, I was in love. Because I would have to completely overhaul my entire kitchen and dining room in order to pull off the adorable fabric she used on her chairs, I opted to stick with my current color hue to recover my chairs. I purchased two different decorator fabrics which coordinated with my fruit cafe curtains. I also bought clear vinyl to, in essence, make my own oilcloth.

This was a very easy project. I just cut out a large square of fabric and vinyl. I laid the vinyl down on my dining room table with the fabric square (right side down) on top. Next, after removing the cushion from the chair, I placed the cushion face down in the center of the fabric square. Then, Judd, with his strong man hands, helped me staple the edges of the fabric & vinyl around the bottom of the cushion.

It only took about 45 minutes to recover all 6 chairs.﻿ I purchased my fabric at Hancock's. Since the fabric was 54" wide, I only needed 2 yards of the plaid fabric, which I bought at 50% off. I also bought 2 yards of the checked fabric which was discontinued and a steal at only $4 a yard. The vinyl was also 54". I chose the 008 thickness so my girls would be less likely to rip it. It was only $2.99 a yard and I needed 3 yards.

I'm really happy with the results. Spills easily clean up and the girls enjoy not having to sit on the towels I used to cover the chairs with in an effort to prevent stains. The total was only $27 and I have enough fabric left to add some cute coordinating trim to my curtains which will tie everything together nicely. I'll post pics of that project when I complete it. (of course I'll have to actually start it before I complete it - ha!)

My girls love to wear dresses. I like the look of a dress over leggings. Target had some adorable clothes we had to pick up. Piper and Riley have matching chocolate and cream striped leggings with coordinating dresses. Sophie's dress is not from Target. It is a welcomed hand-me-down from our neighbor and one of Sophie's favorite dresses.

The sizing is a bit off. Riley and Piper are two. They wear 2T or 24 months in almost everything. They wear 18 month skirts since they tend to run big. The leggings from Target are 3T but the dresses are 2T. Riley's dress is huge on her. It is the same brand and size as Piper's dress (which fits perfectly). The sizing really doesn't make any sense, but I adore these outfits. I appreciate the embroidered floral detail on the pants which match the details on both dresses.

And my plans this summer include helping Riley and Piper quit sucking their fingers, become potty trained, and give up their "lovey" taggie blankets I made them which they tote around everywhere. Wish me luck and feel free to give me any suggestions -- especially about breaking the finger sucking or potty training multiples! Sophie was fairly easy to train. I'm just not sure how to keep up with TWO during the potty training period.